Online Reporter
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke in Geneva, Switzerland
African ministers of health have committed to adopting a unified position to accelerate efforts to end HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, amid growing concern over global financing uncertainties and the future of HIV programmes.
The commitments were made during a high-level meeting held on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, where the ministers met to fine-tune the African common position ahead of its presentation at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS scheduled for June in New York.
Under this unified approach, the ministers pledged to reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 90 percent from the 2010 baseline while building resilient, country-owned, and sustainably financed HIV responses.
To achieve this, they committed to integrating HIV services into broader health systems, strengthening community-led responses, protecting the rights of people living with HIV, and ensuring access to treatment and prevention services for all people, including migrants and refugees.
Also among the proposed commitments was the strengthening of domestic financing for HIV programmes, alongside the promotion of innovation, digital inclusion, and community-led responses.
The ministers highlighted that ensuring access to quality HIV, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infection services for all people is a primary priority, as is the urgent need to address gaps in paediatric HIV services and advanced HIV disease management.
Delivering remarks on behalf of UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, deputy executive director Angeli Achrekar said the world was at a crossroads in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“Ending AIDS is both within our grasp and in danger of slipping through our fingers. It is within this context that UN member states, facilitated by Botswana and Georgia, will convene next month at the General Assembly for a high-level meeting to review progress and consider a new political declaration on the global AIDS response,” she said.
She said the political declaration to be negotiated by UN member states next month would determine the direction of the global HIV response for the next five years.
“It serves as the only global political accountability mechanism for UN member states’ efforts on HIV and AIDS,” she said.
Ms Achrekar warned that weak commitments could reverse decades of progress made in the fight against HIV and AIDS, particularly in Africa, which remains the region most affected by the epidemic.
However, she said, a strong and united African position could help secure sustainable progress towards ending AIDS.
“A strong political declaration would take us down another path, a path of sustainable investment, of sovereignty, of African health systems, African pharmaceutical industries and African communities. It is a path where AIDS is transformed from a global tragedy to a global triumph,” she added.
She also emphasised the importance of community leadership in sustaining gains made against HIV and AIDS.
“A strong political declaration, and thus a strong common African position, would include sustainable financing, integration of HIV into health and non-health systems, robust data collection and equitable access to services,” she said.
“Community leadership across services and systems will be key to achieving sustainable outcomes.”
